Adnoc announces gas discovery offshore of Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) announced on Thursday the discovery of natural gas resources offshore of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Interim results from the first exploration well in Abu Dhabi’s Offshore Block 2 Exploration Concession operated by Eni, indicate between 1.5 – 2 trillion standard cubic feet (TSCF) of raw gas in place.

This discovery marks the first from Abu Dhabi’s offshore exploration concessions, highlighting the continued success of ADNOC’s block bid rounds and its expanded approach to strategic partnerships. A consortium led by Eni and PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) were awarded the exploration rights for Offshore Block 2 in 2019 as part of ADNOC’s debut competitive block bid round.

Dr Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), said, "The discovery of material natural gas resources in Offshore Block 2 underscores how ADNOC’s expanded approach to strategic partnerships is enabling us to accelerate the exploration and development of Abu Dhabi’s untapped hydrocarbon resources and create long-term value for the UAE, in line with the Leadership’s wise directives.

We congratulate our valued partners, Eni and PTTEP, on this achievement and we look forward to continuing to work with all our strategic partners to sustainably unlock Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources and stay ahead of the world’s growing demand for lower-carbon energy."

Offshore Block 2 covers an area of 4,033 square kilometres northwest of Abu Dhabi. The discovery in the block was enabled by new insights from the world’s largest combined onshore and offshore three-dimensional (3D) mega seismic survey currently underway in Abu Dhabi.

Yaser Saeed Almazrouei, ADNOC Upstream Executive Director, said, "The positive interim results recorded by our partners, Eni and PTTEP, in the exploration of Offshore Block 2 follows the recent significant discovery in Onshore Block 4, highlighting the continued success of ADNOC’s accelerated exploration and development program.

Both discoveries leveraged insights from ADNOC’s ongoing 3D mega seismic survey, underpinning the important role the survey is playing for us and our strategic partners as it utilises state-of-the-art technologies to help identify new hydrocarbon resources across Abu Dhabi."

Drilling operations continue to reach deeper formations to fully unlock the resource volume in Offshore Block 2 and further explore the promising potential across the block as well as across Offshore Blocks 1 and 3 exploration concession areas, which were also awarded to Eni and PTTEP.

This achievement follows the announcement in December 2021 of the discovery of up to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BBOE) in Onshore Block 4 Exploration Concession, operated by INPEX/JODCO.

Adnoc launched Abu Dhabi’s first and second competitive block bid rounds in 2018 and 2019 respectively, offering a set of major onshore and offshore blocks to international companies, on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi. Based on existing data from detailed petroleum system studies, seismic surveys, exploration and appraisal wells data, estimates suggest the blocks hold multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

WAM